Feb. 13, 2010
Box Score // Giordano & Hill Video
LAS CRUCES, N.M.--The Nittany Lion softball team found itself in a hole early, 4-0, but clawed its way back, eventually forcing an extra inning and emerging victorious, 9-8, against Colorado State in the early Saturday morning hours. Desi Giordano (West Caldwell, N.J.) drove home Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) in the bottom of the eighth for the walk-off win.
Down 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh, Penn State (2-0) started a rally when Jackie Hill (San Jose, Calif.) led off with a walk. Lauren Yao (Los Angeles, Calif.) singled to left field, putting runners on first and second with none out. Freshman Lauren Rossi (Yardley, Pa.) came to the plate as a pinch hitter for her first collegiate at-bat. She laid down a beautiful bunt that slid past the pitcher and into the empty area that the second baseman had vacated to cover first as Hill hustled around third to score and knot the game up at eight. Unfortunately for PSU, Lisa Akamine (Escondido, Calif.) lined to third, then Bell lined out to shortstop, who threw out Rossi at first for an inning-ending double play.
Despite being unable to put the winning run across the plate in the bottom of the seventh, Colorado State (0-2) had a runner on second in the eighth due to the international tiebreaker rule for extra-inning tournament games. Nevertheless, Hill forced one Ram to pop up and two others to strike out, capping an impressive five-inning, one-hit, shutout pitching, setting the stage for her second win in 10 hours. With Bell on second, Ashley Griffith (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) sacrificed Bell to third, giving Giordano the chance to put the game away, which she did with a sizzling liner into the right-field gap, with just one out in the bottom of the eighth.
"I would say with experience and being in the clutch position a lot," Giordano remarked of her walk-off hit. "That's my job, I'm used to doing it and I enjoy doing it and I thrive off it."
Things didn't start well as Penn State took on a Colorado State team that just fell minutes earlier to host New Mexico State, 10-0, in five innings. CSU's bats came out blazing, putting four runs on the board in the first inning off five hits, leaving no one on base.
The Nittany Lions would respond in the bottom of the second with two runs of their own by capitalizing on an error. Danee Collett (Orange, Calif.) reached on a single and advanced to second on a subsequent wild pitch. Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) hit a fly ball to left field that couldn't be corralled, allowing all runners to be safe. Ashley Renwick (Laurens, S.C.), starting at shortstop, pinch ran for Johnson. Hill hit a sac bunt that was thrown away by the pitcher, allowing Collett to score and sending Renwick to third. Yao belted a line drive to right field, lending Renwick time to score on the RBI sacrifice fly, cutting the lead in half to 4-2 in favor of the Rams after two innings.
Colorado State answered immediately in their next half of the inning, posting three more runs. The Nittany Lions would do the same in the bottom half of the third inning when Giordano homered home Griffith, who reached base by one of CSU's five errors on the evening. After an infield single by Collett, Mary Ostman (Northbrook, Ill.) pinch ran, eventually scoring on a Hill single, again cutting the CSU lead to two, 7-5.
The first batter of the top of the fourth homered for Colorado State and another Ram reached base, which forced head coach Robin Petrini to make a pitching change as Akamine gave way to Hill. Aside from a walk, Hill escaped the fourth inning stranding two CSU runners.
PSU would tack on another run in the bottom of the fifth when Johnson reached on an error and Hill pushed her to second with a sacrifice bunt. After a Yao popout, Danielle Noll (Bald Eagle, Pa.) reached on an error allowing Johnson to safely reach third base. The very next at-bat, Akamine ripped a single up the middle scoring Johnson to cut the margin to one at 8-7.
Meanwhile, Hill retired nine-straight Rams before a single in the top of the seventh with two outs broke the strong. From there, Hill managed to mow down the final four batters she faced, ending her day with six strikeouts.
"I just try to go out there every time, have fun and do my best," Hill said. "If people want to get on my back and get on my momentum then go for it. I'm going to just do what I do and try my best to encourage everyone else to do their best, too."
Giordano wrapped up her day with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, notching a homer and four RBI altogether. Collett also smacked two hits in four plate appearances, while Hill, Yao, Rossi and Akamine all notched RBI on the night. Bell led the way with a team-high two runs scored and seven other Nittany Lions tallied a run apiece.
Penn State takes on host New Mexico State on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. MT (4:30 p.m. ET). NMSU is 3-0 on the year, and 2-0 in Hotel Encanto Invitational play, having downed Nebraska twice on Thursday and beating CSU on Friday night. Immediately following the NMSU game, Penn State takes on Texas-San Antonio for a tentatively scheduled 4:30 p.m. MT (6:30 p.m. ET) first pitch. Both games will have live stats shown through Gametracker and commentary through Twitter (@PSULionSoftball).
NOTES
Due to previous games running long at the Hotel Encanto Invitational, first pitch was at 9:15 p.m. local time and Giordano's game-winning hit came at 12:05 a.m. MT...PSU is 2-2 for the first time since 1997, Petrini's first year at the helm of the squad, when the team jumped out to a 3-0 record...Penn State improved to 2-3 all-time against Colorado State...Hill hasn't allowed a run in nine-straight innings and lowered her earned-run average to 2.10...PSU's bats have been on fire, the Nittany Lions hit .327 in their first two games, belting 17 hits, two doubles and two homers, while slugging .481 and reaching base at a clip of .448...Evidence of Penn State's patience at the plate is shown in the fact that the Lions have walked 10 times, been hit three times and have struck out on just three occurances...PSU is a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases...The Lions have committed two errors so far (.957 fielding percentage), while their opponents have made eight (.875).
--NITTANY LIONS--